Last night I had the pleasure of hosting my super smart and always entertaining book club ladies. A strong-minded group of eight, we can make any book into interesting, extended controversy and conversation.

I had made a strong push that our May book should be Hunger Games. I, unlike the rest of the civilized world, had not yet read the book, but I knew that I could add some spunk to the menu and decor for our evening. I love being able to throw myself into hosting, and thinking about each person in attendance, and how I might surprise them with a little extra goodness.

The good thing about being way behind the times is that there are now oodles of resources out in libraries and interwebs, and I'm excited to show you what made its way to the final round.

Most helpful spots to visit:
Fictional Food: a full list of every (there are a ton!) food mentioned in the book with many, many recipes attached
DaFont: always a source of awesomeness at beautiful prices (!) and for this night a key Hunger Games font. Downloaded, check.
Pinterest: search for boards with Hunger Games in the title and you'll find memes, quotes, and recipes galore.

In the story, early on, Katniss receives the ointment she needs to heal her wounds in a silver pouch from the sponsors. I decided we definitely needed some silver pouches. It was so much fun to capture memorable quotes and wrap them up in a silver (foil) bundle, sealed off with an arrow (also known as a doodled-upon bamboo skewer).

One quote for each silver bundle, one bundle for each of us. The recipient of the "May the odds be ever in your favor" was the winner.

I wrapped each quote in aluminum foil, hole punched the top, and then speared each with one of Katniss's arrows.

Sign accompanying: The sponsors have found you worth and sent you this.

Our eats and treats:
1. Prim’s wrapped goat cheese: goat cheese wrapped in our very own basil leaves
2. Peeta's saved bread: purchased cranberry bread with homemade brown sugar and cinnamon butter (mmmm)
3. Mr. Mellark's cookies: recipe here with some of our own District 12 sparkle sprinkles.

4. Fresh strawberries - just as Katniss and her family had eaten the night of the reaping.
5. "Cheese that melts on your tongue served with sweet blue grapes": baked brie with cranberries and gigantic purple (as close as we get) grapes
6. Mint tea (and mint/blackberry water...so refreshing!) just as Katniss recalls enjoying with her family after meals.
7. Nightlock berries: raspberries filled with chocolate chips (a super easy, yummy idea from a friend of mine). The opposite of poison.
7. Wine - nothing to do with the book, but what's a bookclub and great friends without wine?

We rate our book 0-4 starts (4 stars is tops), and we had a great range of reviews and philosophical discussion.

I started out as a 3 for the book, and since we re-rate at the end of the discussions, I found myself eeking up to a 3.5.

Undoubtedly a fun one to prepare and share with my pals.

Have you read Hunger Games or seen the movie? What did you think? I'm intrigued to see how the movie will compare to the film I created in my head.

If you're hosting a party or just a Hunger Games uber fan, drop a comment, and I'll happily send off to you all of our sponsor's quotes in PDF.

Thanks for stopping over, friends!! You should totally try those raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips, simple goodness!

XOXO,
MJ

PS. We'll be tagging along here and there with Hello Moxie for a summer read of The Happiness Project. Hope you'll be inspired to more happy with us. :)